Steering being manipulated by something else?

[Kappaisa]

Hey everyone I’ve got a ‘13 frs that was hit on the driver front light when I bought it and I’ve repaired everything and have been driving it for 2 months now. After about 3 weeks I’ve run I to an issue where driving above 65 it’s like the car has a mind of it’s own. The steering starts to tug on it’s own whenever I offer any input. So a slight left turn will get tugged left more by something. So turning the wheel at all becomes a constant fight of turning and then correcting for the cars extra tug that it gives every time at speeds above 65mph. Same thing happens with slight right turns. It feels like when you’re driving on a crevice and it pulls your steering one way or the other. I have no idea what’s causing it, I tried new tires and nothing, new wheels and tires nothing, psi is good, alignment is fine.

Only thing I’ve been able to potentially find as a clue is when I first got the car there was a stored code C1231 but after I cleared it I never got it to return. Any help is appreciated because this thing is driving me nuts I’ve got no idea what’s intervening and affecting my steering.

[NoHaveMSG]

Alignment.

[soundman98]

Do you have pics of the original damage, as well as what was replaced?

Have you tried to align it more than once?

[Kappaisa]

I have had an alignment done and it hasn’t helped. I can’t imagine the car misalignes slightly after ward to cause this. I’ve driven some cars with real bad alignment and they don’t react this way at all. I do have pics but I’m still figuring out how to upload them lemme try and see if I can get it. I replaced the fender, bumper, headlight, turn signal and wires for it and the front control arm. After that I got an alignment with used tires up front and three weeks later I started having this. Only thing I changed in that time are the lug nuts but I’ve since swapped em back and nothing changes.

It’s a bizarre effect, youde think I was jerking the car if you were my passenger. Slight turn starts and then it jerks further that way like I’m driving on a triangle too all the time. I’ve rotated the wheels and no difference.

[humfrz]

I suggest you check this out.

https://www.autocodes.com/c1231_toyota.html

[nico_rsx]

Have you tried doing the pedal dance to deactivate all stability control?
The code suggest you need to do some kind of steering re calibration. You may need to go to a dealer for that (or someone who has the techstream software)

[Kappaisa]

I’ve thought about that but the steering wheel hasn’t been replaced neither has anything behind it. Also I don’t throw the abs and traction control lights like others do with this code. Thanks for the suggestion.

[NoHaveMSG]

What does the printout for the alignment look like ? You had another alignment done after it started acting like this? If it is an ABS or TC issue the lights will come on and you won't have cruise control. Steering re-calibration won't cause this, that just means the TC module lost center. Something sounds loose or shifted.

[Jdmjunkie]

I would go through the front end and check to make sure everything is torqued down correctly.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

What does the printout for the alignment look like ? You had another alignment done after it started acting like this? If it is an ABS or TC issue the lights will come on and you won't have cruise control. Steering re-calibration won't cause this, that just means the TC module lost center. Something sounds loose or shifted.

+1. i'm thinking that 'minor hit' jostled something in the front end that it shouldn't have. if it's affecting both steering directions and throwing a steering sensor code, i'd be breaking out the tape measure on the front main support points and measuring the x's to check for everything to be square or not. i expect you're going to find something off somewhere.

might even need to consider bringing it to a body shop for them to check on a frame machine. and alignment just checks that the wheels are square in reference to each other. it assumes that the vehicle chassis and all suspension mounting points are straight.

[pope]

When you torqued the control arm was the suspension loaded or unloaded?
If the accident damaged the control arm, are you certain the strut, tie rod, and anti-roll bar/bar link are all okay?

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Kappaisa

I replaced the fender, bumper, headlight, turn signal and wires for it and the front control arm. After that I got an alignment with used tires up front and three weeks later I started having this. Only thing I changed in that time are the lug nuts but I’ve since swapped em back and nothing changes.

lug nuts shouldn't cause this. loose lug nuts will make for a very floaty uncontrollable feeling, usually very quickly followed by grinding sounds as the brake calipers get machined by the insides of the wheels. been there

looking at your pictures:


the metal brace leading up to the core support on top(where the washer fluid bottle mounts), as well as the brace directly in front of the wheel both show bending damage from the impact, along with the front metal bumper creasing on the edges, but you don't reference any repairs made to those components. i had a wreck like that once, the other driver was going 10-15mph. took way more than the components you listed to properly repair...

from those pictures, i'd definitely check the frame for squareness, and both go over the entire front-left suspension components, potentially even just outright replacing most of anything in the left-front just to make myself feel better--because if i can't trust the repair, i can't drive the car, and if i can't drive the car, there's no reason to keep it.

[Kappaisa]

Thanks everyone for your responses and advice. I haven’t tried the pedal dance so I’ll give that a shot tomorrow and report back.

I don’t know where I put that sheet but I’ll try to find it and post it up. I’ve had a few people recommended a second alignment so I’ll take it in and see how it looks.

The front control arm was torqued down with the car in the air, I inspected the struts and other connecting point in the area and everything seemed fine compared to the passenger side. I do have a second set of struts with trd springs ive been lagging on throwing on. Might be worth it to see if it changes the steering pull.

That picture was a before picture after I had torn all the body panels off, those pieces you mentioned were definitely about an inch in and down compared to where they should have measured out at, they’re spot welded into the unibody and act like braces. I had them pulled to a square position plus or minus 2 mm. Afterward all the bolts for the headlight fender and fender support lined up good. I have not however measured the Xs underneath the car, I might go ahead and do that too so I can check make sure it’s square. I just gotta figure out what order I’m going to do these 3 things for efficiency sake.

What’s still strange is the steering pull only happens for short steering movements like corrections to straighten the car when going straight on the highway. If I’m making a turn that involves more steering movement that what youde do to switch a lane, it gives me the initial jerk in the turning direction and the rest of the turn I can make no issues, like a fwy on/off ramp until I bring the steering wheel back to center. The trigger point is at about the 58 minute mark in a clock for a left turn and the 3 minute mark for a right turn. It might make more sense it’s a mechanical issue if it was consistent throughout the turn radius, at least that’s my quick thought exercise on it. What do you guys think?

[pope]

Originally Posted by Kappaisa

The front control arm was torqued down with the car in the air, I inspected the struts and other connecting point in the area and everything seemed fine compared to the passenger side.

It could be a bushing bind/preload issue. Jack the car up. Loosen (not remove) the control arm bolts. Put concrete blocks, ramps, etc. under the tires. Lower car to place full weight on the tires/suspension. Torque control arm bolts to spec.

Bushings need to be torqued in loaded position, not free hanging.